There was talk of a social drone that looked like a Tellefontu, for use by the AI who were in the crabs’ fighting machines, but nothing had come of it yet. Their AIs were all entitled to a free humanoid social drone, but many of them had not taken advantage of this. Time would tell.
The Parliament of New Yugoslavia had passed laws making both AIs and the Tellefontu human in the eyes of the law. Both groups here now had full and equal rights with human beings. New Kashubia had already done the same thing, a little ahead of us.
It was expected that this equalization would eventually be expanded across all of Human Space, but again, time was needed.
My ranch was now finally at full production, with dozens of agricultural products not only feeding the people who lived in my valley, but being shipped across most of Human Space. The “Derdowski” brand name was being recognized everywhere as meaning that this was a first-quality product.
My industrial factories, all deep below ground, were now bringing in far more money than my land, but still, the ranch was my first love, and I was taking steps to protect it. Everything that could be moved down to three kilometers below the surface had been so moved. This included the grain elevators, the chicken, turkey, pig, and egg factories, and the feed lots. All of the processing plants were down there now, too, as were the lobster ponds.
Provisions had been made below to remove the dairy cows, the beef cattle, and all of the other animals living on the surface, once the Mitchegai got within a few months of us. We were stockpiling food to feed them.
We also had stockpiled grass seed and soil microorganisms, so we could restart the fields if the enemy destroyed them, and had grown scions from every tree in the valley under artificial light far below ground.
Many of the other farmers on New Yugoslavia were doing similar things. The new Disappearing Guns made floor space down there very cheap.
It was so cheap that a fair percentage of the population was moving down as well, living permanently in apartments that had been intended as emergency shelters. They were really very nice, and they cost much less than anything on the surface. I began to wonder if we would become a race of troglodytes!
My wife Kasia was making her plans as well. Most of her assets had been transferred to New Kashubia, since everything we were able to learn about the Mitchegai said that they only wanted planets like Earth, or New Yugoslavia. They wouldn’t touch a metal ball like New Kashubia, circling its deadly Neutron Star!
She was planning to send the boys there as well, as soon as we made contact with the enemy, to live with her parents until the emergency was over.
This was fine with me. Once the danger was real, there was no point in keeping any noncombatants here, and I liked her family better than I liked mine, anyway.
But Kasia herself would spend the war fighting at my side in our CCC, she said, to make sure that I kept out of trouble.
I loved her.
* * *
Kasia and I had long ago resolved that one day a week we would have dinner alone, without the boys around. I mean, we loved them, but we loved each other, too, and sometimes five boys, aged three to thirteen, sort of got in the way.
Sometimes this meant going out to a nice restaurant, but often we just sat and ate out on one of the balconies, looking out on our land.
The boys were happy to be able to order pizza once more, and the drones were delighted to join them.
Kasia had been silent through the champagne, the appetizer, and the salad. When our T-bone steaks and lobsters arrived, I knew that she was ready to talk.
“They’ll be coming soon,” Kasia said. “I can feel it.”
“Yes, I’ve been having those premonitions, too.”
“They’ll destroy everything that we’ve done here, won’t they.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” I said firmly. “And I am the military commander of this planet! We have done everything that I or anybody else can think of to make sure that our defenses are as strong as they can possibly be. If they attack us, they will die, every last damned one of them!”
“But they are older than we are, more experienced, and perhaps wiser.”
“They are a bunch of damned cannibals who eat their own children! I don’t know what kind of military forces they can throw against us, but we definitely have the moral high ground! God willing, we will be victorious!” I almost shouted.
“God willing,” Kasia said, quietly.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
FROM CAPTURED HISTORY TAPES,
FILE 1846583A ca. 1832 a.d.
Kren Prepares for War
It had been twelve years since Kren had received notice of his new prize. This was barely enough time to do all that needed to be done.
The Eleventh Colonizing Fleet could take only two dozen million Planetary Mitchegai to the new world, and Kren had more than six gross that number of subordinates. He had to be sure that he took only his very best along. He decided on taking a dozen million of his most proficient warriors, six million of his most competent scientists and technical people, and six million others, including his most astute administrators, businessmen, and the finest academics from all of his universities. He even planned to take along a few artists, poets, and writers.
Most of these selected people had been in space for years, training for their mission in new, first-quality bodies.
Kren had spent most of his vast personal fortune equipping his subordinates for this venture.
His engineers and builders needed the generalized machines necessary to build the specialized machines that made all of the myriad products that his new planet would need. They had to be prepared to be able to start with nothing but the rawest of materials, and to turn out the finest of end products.
Kren insisted that everything that they took with them must be of the very best quality.
The Mitchegai had millions of years of technology behind them, but if they did not have drawings of every possible thing that they might ever need with them, they would have to invent it afresh, something that they were not very good at. The technical plans alone for all that would be needed filled an entire large cargo ship. This was because their computers were so primitive, by human standards, that they had to take all of their plans printed on thin sheets of their immortal plastic.
They had to have enough food and supplies to last them at least two dozen years, when they should start to become self-sufficient in many matters. If anything was forgotten, they simply wouldn’t have it. The success of the entire colonization program could depend on some trivial item, and when it did, they must have it with them.
His academics insisted on having a complete library of more than twelve million books, and Kren gave them permission to loot every library in every university on his lands, if need be, to get everything that they could possibly need.
Every person going was permitted to bring two tons of personal goods along, with the understanding that they would have to live with that for at least two dozen years before much of it could be replenished.
At his own considerable expense, Kren purchased an armored space suit for every one of the Planetary Mitchegai who was accompanying him. The Space Mitchegai told him that this was a silly way to waste money, and that they would never be needed, but they took his cash, delivered the products, and trained his subordinates in how to use them.
His best soldiers and officers, twelve million of them, were also equipped with every high-tech weapon that the Space Mitchegai could provide. They had been spending the last nine years in space, learning how to use them. This, too, was laughed at, but they took his money. His warriors got the weapons and training.
Kren also bought one million additional single seat fighters, and had a million of his warriors trained to use them, at a price that almost cleaned out his bank accounts. Indeed, he had to borrow money from his own banks, on zero interest, indefinite loans, before the production run was over. They called him crazy once more, but as always, he got his way.
His banks knew that they would never be repaid, and computed that it would be over a thousand years before they recovered. Yet none dared dispute the wishes of Kren.
Kren also had to purchase five additional cargo ships of the largest standard size to transport them all, and all at his own expense.